Utter Destruction
by exclamation
Summary: The Master always set traps within traps. His death activated a trap he'd put in place years ago. Even in death, he was confident this final act would destroy the Doctor utterly.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

_"You really do have a brilliant mind. It's a shame that it will be broken before you taste freedom again. You should have joined me when you had the chance, boy, because in your own destruction, you will help me destroy the Doctor."_

--

The Doctor was muttering to himself. The TARDIS had started beeping a while ago and now the Doctor was rushing round the console, pressing buttons, flipping switches and not for one instance pausing to let Donna know what was going on.

"Oi!" she yelled. The Doctor paused, looking up like there was something wrong with her for interrupting. "What is going on?"

"The TARDIS is receiving a signal. It's faint, but it's on a subtemporal channel which strange enough, but what's impossible is that it's encoded on a multidimensional harmonic frequency."

"In English!" Donna demanded.

"The signal could only have been produced using Time Lord technology." And then he was back to racing around the console pressing things and muttering. "The signal isn't very strong and normal cosmic interference would dissipate it quite quickly. This thing could have been running for centuries but I've never been close enough to pick it up, but now its frequency is resonating with the heart of the TARDIS and we're on a course to locate its source. Unfortunately the signal is so weak that we keep losing track, so it would be really easy for the TARDIS to lose it at just the wrong moment as we come into land and plant us right in the middle of a solid object."

"And that would be bad."

"That would be very, very bad." He burst into a grin. "Oh, yes! If we could find the signal back through the TARDIS systems, that would boost it enough to form a solid link. Hold this down." He grabbed Donna's hand and shoved it against a lever. She could feel the lever straining to move as the Doctor raced around in his frantic pressing of controls.

"Brilliant!" he exclaimed and the central column stopped moving. "Text book landing. Wonderful ship. Never lets me down!"

Donna saw that as the cue for something to blow up, but the TARDIS sat there, serene and still.

"Brilliant!" The Doctor grabbed his coat, still grinning. "Now let's go find the source of that signal."

"Could it be one of your people?" Donna asked. There was an instant of hesitation and the Doctor's grin faded.

"No," he said. "It must be something old that was just abandoned when the call came."

"What call?"

Here, for a moment, Donna caught a glimpse of a deep sadness.

"The call to war. All Time Lords were summoned home for the final battle. Someone must have left a system running."

Then the Doctor was gone. He headed through the TARDIS doors and into whatever lay outside. Donna hurried after him, wanting answers but not hopeful of getting them any time soon. She stepped out into what looked like some sort of lab. The walls were black, with circular panels somewhat reminiscent of those in almost all the rooms of the TARDIS. There was even a circular console that looked similar to the flight controls, just lacking the central column.

"What is this place?" Donna asked.

"I'm not sure." The Doctor touched a switch on the console and a large screen in the wall lit up. It displayed a face, of a man with dark hair and a neatly trimmed beard. He smiled cruelly down at them.

"No," the Doctor breathed, clearly recognising what he saw.

"Well, Doctor," the man on the screen said, his voice as cruel as his expression, "I can only assume that your finding this place means that I am destroyed. So many times we have matched wits and so many times you have emerged victorious, but I have learned to plan for all eventualities. I take comfort in the fact that even in my demise, I hold the key to your utter destruction. That signal that drew you here was programmed to start transmission on the event of my death. You face me for the last time, Doctor, and this time I shall be the victor."

"It was a trap!" Donna said, as the Doctor stared pale-faced at the screen. His expression was one of grief and anger. He stared at the screen, now blank as the message ended. His eyes weren't seeing what was in front of him, but some distant past that was invisible to Donna.

"Doctor, we've got to get out of here."

Donna started to move towards the TARDIS, but the Doctor remained frozen.

"Oi!" her voice rose to a near shout. "We are leaving!" He started, looking almost surprised to see her standing there as he snapped out of his thoughts.

Then there came a faint sound from across the room. It was just a subtle indication of movement, but it struck fear into Donna's heart. She was thinking of what the man on the screen had said. This trap was supposed to lead to the Doctor's utter destruction. Whatever was here with them must be something unthinkably horrible.

--

_"When next you see the Doctor, you will destroy him."_

_No. I won't._

_The thought didn't carry much conviction any more. Time and pain were taking their toll. How much time, he couldn't even guess. Days. Years. Centuries. Time was meaningless when all he was left with was the darkness and the pain. And the voice. It bypassed his silent ears to whisper straight into his thoughts._

_"By your mere existence, you will destroy him."_

_He would have cried if he could, but tears were as unattainable as movement or light or freedom._

_Doctor, I'm sorry._


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

_Light. Space. The universe open around him. _

_Boy was frightened at the unfamiliar. Boy was scared by the emptiness and movement that were almost forgotten. Boy was terrified of what this would mean. _

_No pain now. Boy didn't know how to not be in pain. Pain was always there, rising and falling in a pattern Boy could not predict. He'd tried. He'd tried to calculate when the dull ache would grant him moments of respite or when the appalling agony would drive anything else from his thoughts. Boy was almost as scared by lack of pain as by this freedom. _

_He was scared that this was the day of the trap. _

_He knew the trap was what the pain was for. He was told by the voice in his thoughts, told when the pain lessened enough for him to listen. The end of pain meant the start of the trap. _

_Boy tried to hide. He crawled into a dark spot and stayed still, eyes shut, hands pressed over his ears. He would bring it back. He would bring back the motionless, silent dark. He would bring it back because that would mean the trap wasn't here. He wished for the pain to return, because when Boy hurt, the Doctor was safe._

--

"Doctor, there's something here," Donna hissed in a frightened whisper. She looked around, hoping to see something that she could use as a weapon. The Doctor didn't bother with such things. He just moved slowly towards the source of the noise. Donna followed, not wanting to be any further away from the Doctor than necessary, just in case something horrible happened. The guy on the screen had seemed pretty clear he wanted the Doctor dead.

"Who's there?" the Doctor asked. He moved cautiously. The faint sound of movement was the only answer that came. They followed the source of the noise and Donna saw a huddled figure.

Small and humanoid, the figure was crouched in the tiny gap between two machines. It looked human, just huddled into a ball, as though trying to be as small as possible. Its face was pressed against its knees, hands firmly against its ears, concealing so much that Donna couldn't even guess whether it was male or female. It didn't look at all dangerous, but Donna had seen enough of life with the Doctor not to trust appearances even slightly.

"Are you hurt?" the Doctor asked, crouching before the frightened person. Donna wanted to warn him to stay back, but the figure just tried to pull back even further into its hiding place.

"Maybe I can help you. I'm the Doctor."

The figure moved its head, a faint shake that looked like a denial.

"Are you in pain?" the Doctor continued. "Let me see." He reached out to touch a trembling arm, but the person flinched away.

"Go away." The voice came out as a faint whisper, shaking with tears. A boy, Donna guessed by the sound of it.

"I'm not going to hurt you. How long have you been here?"

"Go away," the whisper came again.

"Did the Master hurt you? Here, let me see." The Doctor reached out to take one of the boy's arms, trying to lift it away from his head so that he could get a look at the figure in front of them. The boy just tightened his grip around his head, forcing his face into his knees and pulling himself into his tight ball.

"Go away."

Donna almost wanted to suggest leaving him. The boy clearly wasn't interested in help and this lab was giving her the creeps. The strange man's face was still frozen on the screen and the machinery was ominous. She glanced at the open TARDIS door and wondered if she should just head back inside. But the Doctor always had to try and help.

The Doctor reached out again. He placed a hand on the boy's head. The tension vanished in an instant, the boy's arms falling limp to his sides.

"What did you do?" Donna asked.

"It's a bit like hypnosis," the Doctor answered. "I placed the suggestion in his mind that he should sleep."

"I still think we should leave," Donna said.

"If the Master wanted me here, it won't be as simple as that."

"Who is the Master?"

"The greatest monster my species has ever produced."

The Doctor was reaching into the gap between the machines, his arms grasping the boy gently and easing him from the hiding space. When he was out, the Doctor laid the boy out on the floor. Donna got her first glimpse of the boy's face. He certainly looked human, probably around sixteen years old. There was no sign of any injury. Somewhat confused, Donna looked to the Doctor for an explanation.

She saw the look of horror on the Doctor's face.

"What is it?" she asked.

The Doctor turned away. He leaned against one of the pieces of equipment that was nearby, his body almost shaking and struggling to support itself. Donna moved to him, seeing the expression of fear on his face. The Doctor, calm in the face of any danger, looked horrified by the sight of a young boy.

"Who is he, Doctor?"

"Someone who should be dead."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

"Doctor, what's going on? Doctor, are you sure it's a good idea to bring him into the TARDIS?"

The Doctor was carrying the boy, still sleeping, through the console room and into the maze of rooms that occupied the rest of the ship. He hadn't said a word to Donna since declaring that the boy should be dead. Something was clearly enormously wrong here, but the Doctor was refusing to let Donna in. She could see tears in his eyes as he held the boy protectively, but he wasn't giving answers. He just carried the boy into one of the many bedrooms and laid him down in a bed long unused.

"Who is he?" Donna demanded.

"He travelled with me for a while. I thought I saw him killed." He crouched at the bedside and tucked the covers around the boy as a father might an ill son. "I thought he'd died because of me." He blinked back tears as he looked at the young face. "Watch over him," he said, "I've got to find out what the Master did to him."

Then he stood and headed out the door, no doubt moving back out into the lab.

Donna found a sit and looked round the room she was in. The Doctor had had many companions over the years and many of them went quickly when they left. The bedrooms of the TARDIS were therefore cluttered with bits of miscellanea that had been acquired during a stay and then left at the moment of departure.

Donna wondered if this had been the boy's room when he'd been here. Maybe he'd just brought him here because this one was convenient. Donna stood again and peered at the objects around. There were various books on a range of subjects and what looked like a box of chemistry equipment. Donna found a sketchbook with a few drawings of landscapes. Clearly the artist hadn't been one for drawing people. Donna flipped through, looking at alien worlds recorded in pencil. Then she put the book down and looked round for anything that would give her more of a clue about this boy.

She wanted to go after the Doctor and ask for more information, but the pain on his face had been almost frightening. No one should be able to hurt that much. Besides, someone had to watch over the kid. He hadn't looked entirely sane.

The boy stirred, then woke. His expression upon realising his surroundings was one of abject terror.

"It's alright," Donna said, "you're safe."

"No, no, no," the boy muttered, repeating the denial over and over. "No, no."

"You're in the TARDIS. You'll be OK now."

But the boy kept muttering, "No." He scrambled from the bed, standing on the opposite side from Donna. He was shaking all over, staring around like a cornered animal.

"No one's going to hurt you," Donna said. She tried to approach the boy, but he backed away, nearly stumbling over a box. So Donna stopped moving, hoping her stillness might do something to calm the kid.

"You're safe," Donna repeated.

"No," the boy shook his head. He was crying. "I'm not safe. I'm going to destroy the Doctor."

--

The Master had left him another message. Doctor found it almost immediately when he started looking for records of the work that had been done here. The screen lit up and the Master's former face sneered down at him.

"By now, you must have found my gift," the Master said. "You always did have such a fondness for these pathetic creatures, though in Adric's case I can almost understand why. Such a brilliant mind for one so young. It's almost a pity to break him." But the Master's face showed no sign of pity. Despite all that had happened between them, the Doctor had never hated him more than he did now.

"How is he still alive?" the Doctor demanded. But the face on the screen was just an echo of a man now dead. It couldn't answer him.

The Doctor had seen Adric die. He'd watched the freighter explode and known that there had been no way for Adric to get off and no possible chance of anyone surviving. He'd known with utter certainty that he'd brought about the boy's death. Yet here he was, alive.

"This trap has been set up to activate the moment I die and I have no way of knowing how long a time that is. Perhaps it's a few years. Perhaps centuries. Perhaps longer."

It had been more than half a lifetime ago that the Doctor had lost Adric, and for a Time Lord, that was a very long time. It was half a dozen human lifetimes, yet the boy looked no older than when the Doctor had shaken his hand and accepted the badge that had destroyed the Cyberleader.

The badge!

The boy here had still been wearing the badge. The Doctor knew that was gone; he'd crushed it beneath his own fingers. Whoever the boy on the TARDIS was, he wasn't the same person the Doctor had left a prisoner of the Cybermen aboard the freighter.

"See what I have done to your precious companion, Doctor. See how I destroyed the boy you knew."

The Master's face faded from the screen, replaced by diagrams and images. The Doctor wanted to turn away in disgust, but instead he watched as the Master showed him the torture he had put Adric through for so long. He felt almost physically sick at the thought of it. And the boy had known through it all that there was no hope of rescue. He'd known that the Doctor believed him dead.

Tears filled his eyes as he silently begged Adric's forgiveness.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

The Doctor thought about Adric, remembering how the boy had come to join him. He'd stowed away then, when the Doctor had tried to take him home, just sat down on the floor of the console room and insisted that if the Doctor wanted him to leave, he'd have to carry him out the door. The Doctor, of course, had tried to convince him of the seriousness of the decision, that there would be no way home for Adric if the TARDIS returned to n-space. Adric had behaved like a sulking child and refused to shift.

The Doctor remembered Romana laughing. She'd said that if they tried to have a battle of stubbornness, they'd still be glaring at each other when the universe ended.

The Doctor had still thought that the boy should go home. He was so very young to be put in the sort of danger that the Doctor's travels inevitably led to. On top of that, he would have no way back if he decided that the adventures weren't quite what he'd been expecting.

So the Doctor gave Adric provisional agreement to stay on the TARDIS while they plotted a course back to their own universe. He wasn't going to force him to leave, but he could try to persuade him. He'd insisted that Adric would have to earn his keep and he'd set him some of the most gruelling tasks available.

--

_The Doctor was in the console room, working on adapting the temporal thrusters. Adric burst through the door. He was dressed in a set of overalls from the wardrobe room that were a little too large for him and he was utterly filthy, as well as looking fairly exhausted. He shoved a piece of paper in front of the Doctor's face. _

_The Doctor glanced at the first line, recognising the equations Romana had been working with to devise a course back through the CVE. _

_"Romana's finished these already?" the Doctor said. "That was quick." _

_"They're my calculations." _

_"Yours?" _

_"Yes. I told you I was good. Look, I understand that I've got to do my fair share, but it's stupid to have me maintaining the air processors when my skills are elsewhere." _

_"You're complaining about the work I've set you?" That was the reaction he'd been hoping for. _

_"No, Doctor. It's just inefficient to have Romana and K9 doing these calculations when I can do them much quicker. If you need any mathematical work doing, you just have to ask me." There was a distinct trace of smugness in Adric's voice but, the Doctor considered as he looked over the calculations, he appeared to have earned it. _

_Adric's stomach interrupted the conversation by growling loudly. _

_"It sounds like we ought to get you some food." The Doctor stood, leaving the piece of paper on the console. He eyed Adric's appearance. His hands were coated in dirt from the air processors, which tended to accumulate grime as they purified the atmosphere inside the TARDIS. "You should get a bit cleaned up first." _

_"What's the point?" Adric asked. "I've still got two of the processors to see to." _

_"Oh, never mind about those. They've been in that state for over a century now; I'm sure they'll be fine a good while longer." _

_"I thought you said that the maintenance was important." _

_"And it was," the Doctor replied. "It's given you plenty of time to think about your decision to come with us." _

_"You mean it was some sort of test to see how serious I was?" _

_"Precisely. I'm all in favour of doing things simply because they seem like a good idea at the time, but some choices can have rather permanent results. I wanted you to be sure." _

_"I am sure, Doctor," Adric said, a grin wiping all trace of tiredness from his face. _

_"Then welcome on board, Adric." _

--

It was all such a long time ago now.

It was hard to believe that the frightened figure in the lab was the same person. No doubt, that was what the Master intended. Adric had suffered here for centuries; it was enough to drive anyone mad.

The Doctor returned to the TARDIS, almost wishing he could forget again all the things he'd just learned. It was beyond sickening, what the Master had done to Adric simply to get back at him. But such needless cruelty was entirely his style.

The Doctor headed through to the bedroom, finding Adric awake and looking just as terrified as he'd been in the lab. He was standing near the bed, his eyes darting between the Doctor and Donna. He looked about ready to bolt.

"Adric," the Doctor said, speaking softly and calmly, "you're in the TARDIS. I know I don't look like I did when we last met, but I'm the Doctor. No one's going to hurt you now. It's over."

"No," Adric shook his head. He was crying and backing away. "It'll never be over."

He wasn't looking at his feet. In his desire to get away from the Doctor, Adric tripped on a box of items that had belonged to a former occupant of the room. There was a smashing sound as he fell on top of the box.

The Doctor hurried over, intending to help.

Donna yelled a warning, but not in time. Adric pulled a shard of broken vase of the box and thrust it into the Doctor's chest. He gave a cry of pain as the jagged edge tore through his clothes and broke through his skin.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Doctor must hate Boy now. Doctor would send him away. Hate was good. Master wanted Doctor to care. If Doctor hated, Doctor would leave Boy behind and Doctor would be safe.

But Boy didn't want Doctor to hate him. Boy loved the Doctor; Doctor had helped Boy so much. Boy wanted Doctor to be a friend again.

But then the trap would happen. Doctor would hate Boy anyway. Better a little hurt now. Better ruin his Master's plan now by making the Doctor leave him behind. If Boy were away from the TARDIS, he couldn't obey his Master. If he were anywhere but here, he couldn't destroy the Doctor.

--

Adric's fingers parted and the shard of vase clattered to the floor. Blood was soaking the Doctor's suit, but he didn't try to stop it. Instead, he just put his arm round the kid, who was crying again, huddled on the floor. Adric wrapped his arms around his legs and buried his face in his knees, much as he'd been when they'd found him.

"Doctor, are you alright?" Donna asked.

"It's not much more than a scratch," he answered. He was hugging the boy, which seemed like a stupid way to act towards someone who'd just attacked him for no good reason. The act of comfort just seemed to make Adric's crying worse.

The Doctor half-lifted the kid to his feet and then sat him down on the bed.

"It's OK, Adric," he said, speaking soothingly. "No one's going to hurt you anymore. You don't have to fight. Just rest." He eased Adric down so he was once more lying on the bed. The boy turned his head away but all trace of violence had gone.

"I'll make you better, Adric. I promise. The Master will never hurt you again."

Donna just watched. The Doctor's shirt and jacket both had a puddle of red on their front. Only when he'd tucked the boy into bed again did he appear to pay any attention to them. He left the bedroom, inspecting the cut as he did.

"Shouldn't we be locking him up or something?" Donna asked. She couldn't understand how the Doctor could be so calm about someone stabbing him.

"He's just frightened and panicking."

"He tried to kill you."

They reached the console room, the Doctor removing both his jacket and shirt.

"Aw. I loved this suit," he murmured, seeing the hole and the stain in the front of the jacket.

"The suit is the least of your problems. That kid stabbed you!"

"This?" The Doctor looked at the cut, a gash a little over an inch long. It wasn't deep and the blood wasn't flowing particularly fast. He pulled a medical kit out from under the console. "This is just a scratch. I've given myself worse cuts shaving."

"I can't believe you've managed to stab yourself while shaving."

The Doctor appeared to think for a moment, then attempted a grin. "Well... maybe just the once." The humour of his words never made it to his eyes. He pulled out a bandage and started applying it to his chest. Donna stepped closer to help.

"Whoever he may have been once, right now that kid is a danger," she said.

"He's been tortured for centuries," the Doctor said. "He's been trapped. The Time Lords had a way of freezing time within a container. It was used for transporting dangerous prisoners or the critically injured. In some cases, it was possible to leave the person's mind unfrozen, so that they could communicate with the rest of the universe, pass on vital information. The Master put Adric in one of these containers and left him aware, but cut off from any communication." There were tears in the Doctor's eyes that were unrelated to the pain of the wound.

"He has been trapped outside time for hundreds of years," he went on, "unable to move, unable to see, unable to call for help. That would be enough to drive anyone mad. But it's worse than that. The Master made it possible for Adric to still feel pain. He's been tortured for so long and I didn't even guess he was still alive."

Donna's mind didn't want to process the horror of what she was hearing. Even with her anger at the kid for attacking the Doctor, she was tempted to go back into that room and hug him herself. That someone could actually do such a thing was beyond evil.

"Why?" she asked.

"To hurt me. There was no other reason. The Master's not even alive to see me suffer. He did this out of pure malice!"

Finished with the bandage, the Doctor pulled the bloody shirt back on. He started pressing switches and the central column began to move.

"I thought you said we wouldn't be able to just leave," Donna said.

"I was wrong. The place has absolutely nothing to do with the Master's trap. It's all Adric."

"Then where are we going?"

"I'm taking you home."

"What?"

The Doctor turned to Donna, the tears still shining in his eyes. "I was wrong to let you come with me. I should have learned. The people around me get hurt."

"I chose to come with you."

"So did Adric. Now look at him. You've seen the life I lead, Donna. If you stay with me, sooner or later you'll get hurt, maybe killed. It's not safe."

"But you need someone. You said so yourself."

"I've got Adric. He's got no one else. He's got no family and he can't return to his people. It's up to me to look after him."

"You can't do it on your own. I can help."

"Adric was tortured for centuries just because I cared about him. I've made a lot of enemies, Donna. They'd do the same. They'd hurt you to get to me."

"I don't want to leave." Donna thought of the normal life she'd had, just one day of tedium after another. She needed this life and that Doctor needed someone beside him. And that kid was going to be more of a handful than one person could cope with.

"If you want me to leave," Donna said, "you're going to have to carry me out the door."

The Doctor was silent for a moment, staring at the controls. Donna waited, confused by the sudden silence and wondering if she should say something more.

"I've been told that before," the Doctor said at last, his voice quiet but strained with emotion. "I was told exactly that. By Adric."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

"Get up, boy. You have work to do."

The voice didn't enter his mind through his ears. It was already there, buried in his thoughts. Boy mumbled a denial and buried his head further beneath the covers, as though the darkness could drive away his Master's commands.

"Get up, boy!"

Boy's feet started moving of their own accord. They slid from beneath the covers and Boy stood. He was shaking as what was left of his mind tried to fight against the orders that had been buried in his subconscious. Tears ran down his face.

Doctor. His friend. The one who'd cared for him like a father and shown him a whole new universe.

But Boy couldn't disobey his Master.

--

Donna was trying her best to convince the Doctor that he needed her here more than he need to protect her, but a sound cut across her arguments. A bell was ringing out, reverberating through the TARDIS.

"The cloister bell," the Doctor muttered, his concern obvious.

"Doctor, what is it?"

"It's a warning. A very serious one." He gave the console screen a glance then headed through the door into the heart of the TARDIS. Donna hurried after him.

"What does it mean?"

"Either the TARDIS is in imminent danger, or the entire universe is."

Donna followed him down a corridor, then another one. It seemed she spent half her time chasing after him without any real idea what was going on.

The Doctor stopped short. Someone had pulled one of the round panels from the corridor wall. Donna peered inside, seeing some switches and lights. The Doctor clearly saw something more significant in there.

"No, no, no, no, no," he muttered. The flip of one switch silenced the ring bell, then the Doctor turned and raced back to the console room.

"Doctor! What's going on?" Donna ran after him, but got no reply.

She arrived at the console room a few seconds after he did. The Doctor was pulling Adric away from the controls. The central column was moving rapidly and various lights on the console were flashing. Something sparked on one of the panels.

As the Doctor looked around to see what had gone wrong, Adric took advantage of the momentary distraction to pull free of his grip. Adric pressed new switches.

"Adric, stop!" The Doctor wasn't even trying to be calm and soothing now. His anger and worry were obvious as he tried to figure out what was going on. Donna didn't know quite what could happen if something went wrong with those controls, but she guessed that the least that would happen was that the three of them would die. With all the power of a time machine, she was willing to believe it possible that the TARDIS could destroy half the universe.

Donna rushed over to help keep Adric away from the controls while the Doctor went to the screen and tried pressing a few buttons of his own.

Then there was a faint bump and the column went still. There was a moment of silence.

The Doctor checked the screen and then looked up at Adric. The boy was quiet, not even struggling against the grip Donna had on his arms. There were tears on his face and he stared at the floor.

"Where are we, Adric?" the Doctor asked.

"I'm sorry, Doctor."

"Adric, where have you brought us?"

Adric stamped his foot down hard onto Donna's and twisted in her grip. The moment of pain loosened her hands enough that he pulled away. He ran straight for the main doors and out into whatever world they'd landed on.

"Adric!" the Doctor called after him. He hurried to the doors and looked out, then went back to the console.

"What's he done?" Donna asked. "Where are we?"

"I don't know. He forced a feedback error into the sensor circuits. That's the only way he could trick the cloister bell into going off, but it means I can't see where we are." The Doctor read something off the screen. "We've got a bigger problem."

"What?" Donna didn't want to think what could be worse than being on an unknown planet with a lunatic who could control the TARDIS.

"Adric's clever, but he's not that clever and I certainly never taught him how to fool the cloister bell. Someone else must have told him what to do."

"The Master."

The Doctor nodded. "Wherever we are, Adric brought us here because the Master told him to."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Boy ran through the forests. His Master's orders were clear and he had much to set up before the Doctor could find him. Boy wanted to stand still and shout at the top of his lungs so that the Doctor would locate him and stop him. But he couldn't disobey his Master. The instructions had been forced into his mind, controlling him more than his own thoughts.

Boy had to do this. He would obey, even as he silently begged for some cosmic force to strike him dead on the spot.

He reached a large tree which stood in the forest. It looked nothing special, just another tree on a world with billions of them. But Boy placed a hand at the right point on a branch and a portion of the trunk swung out.

Boy stepped inside his Master's TARDIS.

--

"Shouldn't we be getting after Adric?" Donna asked.

"Can you tell which direction he went in?"

Donna had to admit that she couldn't. All she could see outside the doors was an expanse of forest. There was no obvious path and she didn't know the first thing about tracking. The Doctor was at the console, apparently trying to fix the sensors. Donna wondered if the TARDIS had some sort of lifeform detectors like on Star Trek that would let them locate Adric.

"Hmm," the Doctor said. "There's a faint time differential field appeared." He frowned at the screen.

"A what? A time distortion?"

"No, it's more like... well, with no dimensional anomalies in the region and no detectable technology on the planet, it might be a sign that there's another TARDIS nearby."

"Another TARDIS? I thought there was just one TARDIS. You call it _the_ TARDIS, not _a_ TARDIS."

"The TARDIS was one of many built on Gallifrey. I just assumed mine was the only one not to be destroyed in the Time War. But if the Master left his hidden somewhere... The last couple of times I encountered the Master, before he reappeared recently, he didn't have his TARDIS with him."

"So he might have left it here on the off-chance of you springing the trap?"

"It's possible," the Doctor said. "The Master always planned for all occasions." He started fiddling with bits of electronic equipment that was attached to the console. "Now, if I just reconfigure the homing device," he buzzed a small globular object with his sonic screwdriver, "we should be able to track it down." He pocketed the screwdriver. "Ready."

"So we're looking for another blue box?" Donna asked as they stepped out into the forest. "It shouldn't be too hard to find."

"The Master's TARDIS could look like anything."

"I thought you'd seen it before. Even if it's not the same as yours, shouldn't you know what it looks like?"

"A TARDIS is supposed to take on a shape that will blend in with its surroundings. Mine just got stuck. I've tried to fix it a couple of times, but I kind of like it like this."

Donna glanced back to where the blue shape was just about visible through the foliage. Even she had to admit it wouldn't be quite the same if the TARDIS wasn't such a distinctive shape.

"So, what do we do if we find the Master's TARDIS?" Donna asked.

"Well, that depends on what Adric's trying to do. The Master was always an expert on mind control; he could have instructed Adric to do just about anything."

"You mean, like turning his TARDIS into a bomb to kill you?"

"Or to blow up the rest of the universe. The Master was a sore loser."

Donna was having to resist the urge to say, "I told you so," about her asking to leave when they'd first landed in the lab. Or about her suggestion that they lock Adric up. Instead, she followed the Doctor through the forest. The object in his hand gave off occasional beeps, presumably letting them know they were going in the right direction. After a minute, Donna noticed that the beeps were getting a little louder.

"It's somewhere round here," the Doctor said.

Donna looked round and saw nothing but trees.

"Are you sure that thing's working?"

Then one of the trees opened. A portion of the trunk just swung away, leaving black space just large enough for someone to step inside. The Doctor moved towards the opening.

"Are you nuts?" Donna asked. "You've just told me that Adric's probably brainwashed to kill you and you're going to walk right in?"

"We can't do anything standing around outside."

The Doctor walked through the gap. Donna sighed and followed him.

The inside looked nothing like the Doctor's TARDIS. There was a large, dark room, with a few controls and a screen around the edge. Above them, metal poles stretched across like some sort of web and there was a circular hole in the wall. In the hole, arms and legs outstretched, was Adric.

"Block transfer computation," he said, between sobs. The Doctor's face went white.

"What does that mean?" Donna asked.

"It's a method of creating solid objects out of pure mathematics."

"What kind of solid objects?"

"Any kind imaginable," said a new voice. Donna turned to see a man standing between them and the entrance. It was the man who'd been on the computer screen in the lab and he smile at them now with the same cruelty.

"Hello, Doctor," he said.

"Master."


	8. Chapter 8

Sorry this is so short, but it was the perfect place to end the chapter. Sorry, also, for the delay in updating. I have my last set of university exams at the moment. I'm right on the boarder between a 2:1 and a 1st, so the results of these are crucial in determining was mark I get overall for my degree.

Chapter Eight

Donna looked at the man who the Doctor addressed as the Master. She was certain it was the same person who'd been threatening them in messages from the past.

"I thought you said he was did," she said.

"He is. He died in my arms."

"Then who's he?"

"He's created by block transfer computation." Donna's blank look told him exactly what she thought of that as an explanation. "The computations generate solid objects simply by having a mathematical model of them. Adric's talented enough that he made a copy of himself so realistic that none of us guessed the real Adric was being held prisoner. He must be doing the same thing now to create a copy of the Master."

"Oh, but I'm much more than a copy, Doctor," the Master smiled wickedly.

The Doctor frowned, peering at the man as though trying to focus on something. "The temporal influence. But how? You're just a mathematical concept. Even Adric doesn't have the skill to compute the temporal stimulus. You can't be a Time Lord."

The Master laughed. "I can, Doctor. I placed a piece of myself inside the boy. Just a fragment of my essence as a Time Lord, preserved in the mind of a human so that a part of me would be safe no matter what happened in our encounters."

"What's going on?" Donna demanded.

"Essentially, he's made a complete copy of himself, even his... his soul for lack of a better word, at the point where he set the trap. That means you have no recollection of anything that's happened since then."

"Why would I need it? I can destroy you and then I can learn anything I need to as I bring the universe to its knees before me."

"But everything's changed now," the Doctor said, almost frantic. "The Time Lords are gone. They were destroyed in a war. I'm all that's left and now you."

"You're lying, Doctor. No one had the power to match the Time Lords."

"The Daleks did. Gallifrey is gone and our people wiped out."

"You cannot fool me, Doctor. You are just trying to prevent your own destruction, but it won't work."

The Master pressed a button on a control panel. Suddenly, there was a faint light surrounding the Doctor and Donna. She tried to move, but was held trapped, the light somehow pinning her in place.

"I'm sorry, Doctor," Adric cried out.

"Can't you stop making the copy?" Donna asked, her mouth free to move even if the rest of her was trapped.

"It won't work now," the Doctor answered for the kid. "A piece of the Master's soul is now inside the copy and can sustain it like a real model. Adric's not creating him anymore."

"True," the Master said, "but he still could be so very useful to me. Think of all he could create for me. With his mathematical skill, I can reshape the universe to my own design."

"You mean Adric's design," the Doctor said. "It's his mind that's doing the computation. The block transfer creations will all be coming from him, shaped by his thoughts and desires, not yours."

"But at my command. He is in my power completely."

"If he were completely in your power, he would be apologising to me."

"No matter. You will die just as surely."

The Master pressed another button. Donna screamed as pain seared through her. It felt as though liquid fire was being poured through her veins. Even over her own shouts, she could hear the Doctor crying out.

"Goodbye, Doctor. You have been a worthy adversary, but now our enmity meets its inevitable end."

"I think not." Donna heard a new voice enter the conversation.

The pain ended and she was able to move again. She collapsed to her knees, unable to stand as her body recovered from the agony. She looked up towards the panel where the Master stood. With a hand over the buttons that had caused her recent torture, stood a man with a mass of curly hair and a ludicrously long scarf.

"It's not possible," the Master said, staring between the new arrival and the Doctor.

"The Doctor always come to my rescue," murmured Adric.

Donna, utterly confused, looked at the Doctor, who was smiling.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

The new arrival pressed some sequence of buttons on the console and a column of light appeared around the Master. The Master was staring in furious astonishment, apparently trapped by the energy of the light.

"How is this possible? The temporal cataclysm caused by your timeline crossing should make this unfeasible."

"You're not going to hurt Adric," said the man with the scarf. He pressed more buttons. A faint humming sound began. Donna started to ask what was happening, but the Doctor shushed her.

"The block transfer construct is destabilising," said the guy with the scarf.

"That's not possible," said the Master. "My temporal essence should sustain the construct."

"Not against a directed attack honed in to the precise calculations used to create you."

"But how could you know those calculations?"

"Because I do," said Adric.

"You gave him the power to destroy you," the Doctor said. "You gave him the power to reshape the universe but you didn't think that Adric's will would be strong enough to create more than just what you ordered him to."

"Then you," the Master turned to the other man, "you're just a construct."

"Just a thing of maths and calculations," he said, smiling broadly. "But the Doctor always comes to Adric's rescue."

"It's not too late," the Doctor said. "Our people are gone, but you can surrender to me and you can live." There were tears on his face. He looked almost like he was pleading.

"I'd rather fade into mathematical oblivion than be your prisoner," the Master snarled.

"Done," said the guy with the scarf. He pressed a button and both he and the Master faded away.

"Um, what just happened?" asked Donna. The Doctor was crying. He wasn't looking at her. He just reached up and wiped his eyes. Then he looked up at Adric and tried to smile.

"You did well, Adric," he said, climbing up, careful not to touch the web-like strands as he pulled the boy free and lifted him gently down. From what Donna could see, the boy was asleep or unconscious, passed out from the strain of whatever it was he'd just been involved in.

"Oi! What's going on?"

"I told Adric that he was the one controlling the block transfer, hoping he would realise he could make his own creations. He no doubt had to fight against the Master's brainwashing, but he was able to create a reconstruction of one of my former regenerations. That creation knew enough about how the Master's, for lack of a better word, copy was formed that he could used the TARDIS's controls to emit a harmonic resonance that was able to destabilise the Master on a sub atomic level."

Donna blinked.

"One day, you're going to have to learn to explain things in a way that actually explains things."

"Adric made someone out of maths to kill the Master. Come on. Let's get out of this place."

"No argument from me."

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Boy was warm. Boy was somewhere soft. More importantly, Boy was alone in his head. There was no pain and no whispering voice of his Master. No one was telling him what to do anymore.

The trap had come. The trap had passed. The Doctor had saved him. The Doctor had defeated the Master and won the day. Boy was safe.

Boy had never calculated this possibility. The Master had planned so carefully. He'd plotted and predicted and left Boy so certain that the Doctor's end would come. Boy hadn't thought he could fight back with the Master's own weapons. Until Doctor had stood there, and believed in Boy despite the pain and the haze of irrational thought. The Doctor trusted Boy, even after Boy had led him into a trap. Doctor was kind and wonderful. Doctor was family.

"Doctor, I think he's awake."

"Adric? Adric, can you hear me? How are you feeling?"

Adric. Yes, Adric. Adric was who Boy had been, before his slavery to the Master. Adric had smiled and laughed and loved and been happy. Boy wanted to be Adric again.

He opened his eyes and blinked at the room in the TARDIS. Boy was scared of the TARDIS because it meant the Doctor's end, but Adric wasn't scared. For Adric, the TARDIS meant safety. For Adric, this was a good place. If Boy could be Adric again, this would be safe again.

He blinked at the man beside the bed and tried to smile, tried to be happy as Adric would have been.

"Doctor," he whispered.

"Yes, Adric. It's me. You're safe now. You're home."

Home. Not quite. But nearly. The Doctor would heal him, make him Adric again. The Doctor always came to his rescue.


End file.
